Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed a huge overhaul of healthcare in the United Kingdom after announcing that NHS England is set to be abolished in the near future.
The PM made the revolutionary move this morning (13 March) in an announcement live on television with an audience surrounding him in Hull.
Sir Keir, who arrived in Downing Street last summer after beating Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives in the 2024 general election, said the move was partly due to previous governments and their approach to NHS England and how it should be run.
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But it also came down to money and how the taxpayer's cash was being sent on public services, with almost half of patients not seeing a doctor within 48 hours of asking for an appointment, according to data from the Nuffield Trust.
The latest NHS A&E waiting times also show things are slowly getting worse, with 12 hour waiting times in winter impacting 500,000 patients.
Why has Keir Starmer abolished NHS England?
First and foremost, NHS England is not the NHS. The prime minister is not axing the health care system used by millions every single day that is free at the point of use.
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NHS England is the public body responsible with making sure the NHS runs smoothly in England, with a focus on training staff, keeping waiting times down, and improving the health of people living in the country.
But Sir Keir has said the body is now 'overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly'.
He said that previous Tory governments had made the wrong decision in moving NHS England away from central government.
What does NHS England do?
NHS England has a variety of functions, including 'overseeing the delivery of safe and effective NHS services' which involves making sure staff are trained and driving best practice forward.
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It also decides how £134 billion of funding is distributed among the NHS, from hospitals to GP surgeries and outreach clinics, with a focus on 'best value for the taxpayer'.
It also monitors and supports the performance of nearly 7,000 NHS organisations, holding them to account for service delivery, quality and safety.
NHS England is regularly involved in the country's vaccination programme; a system it says helps save 10,000 lives a year. Innovative cancer treatment is also available to more than 100,000 patients through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
What will the future of the NHS in England look like?
Sir Keir said he wants to make sure money is meant spent in the areas that need it the most.
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NHS England will be abolished, with management of the NHS in England brought back under government control.
He said there will be less bureaucracy with the money saved from that spent on 'nurses, doctors, operations, and GP appointments'.
Questions are now being asked as to what the NHS in England will look like under government control, which will no doubt see Sir Keir be judged on whether he can make the NHS better for patients - and overstretched staff - under this radical move.
Will there be job losses?
Yes, thousands of jobs are being cut.
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Sir Keir said that there was 'duplication' across NHS England in roles that staff carry out on a daily basis. He said that money saved from redundancies would be reinvested in the frontline of the NHS, not absorbed as a saving.
"Among the reasons we are abolishing it is because of the duplication," he said. “So, if you can believe it, we’ve got a communications team in NHS England, we’ve got a communications team in the health department of government; we’ve got a strategy team in NHS England, a strategy team in the government department. We are duplicating things that could be done once.
“If we strip that out, which is what we are doing today, that then allows us to free up that money to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line."
It comes after the Government confirmed earlier this week that the NHS England workforce will be cut in half, with its 13,000 workers reduced to 6,500. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the abolition of the public body will 'fix our broken NHS'.
Topics: Keir Starmer, NHS, Money, Politics, Health, Rishi Sunak
Tom Earnshaw